(UK) Doctors cry foul at NHS 'privatisation by stealth'

Source: The Observer

Britain's leading medical body has expressed grave concern that the government is planning to privatise large sections of the NHS by stealth – in breach of previous promises to doctors to limit the role of the private sector.

In an explosive letter to the health minister Lord Howe, leaked to the Observer, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges says that ministers appear to have reneged on previous agreements with the profession, by attempting to force through parliament new rules that would greatly expand the role of private operators across the NHS.

The extraordinary intervention by the most august body representing the medical profession puts doctors' leaders and the government on collision course yet again, as complex and wide-ranging NHS reforms are being implemented throughout the country.

In 2011, David Cameron ordered a "pause" to the passage of Andrew Lansley's NHS bill, to "listen, reflect and improve" the modernisation plans, after complaints from the medical profession. The latest salvo from the royal colleges reflects a sense that the most serious of those complaints – the danger of creeping privatisation – has been ignored.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/02/doctors-bemoan-nhs-privatisation-by-stealth